1883. J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



99 



sian fly, so that tlie farmer's wheat pros- 

 l)ects are always between " the upper aiid the 

 netlier inill-stoiies. " Risk hvte sowing at any 

 rate ; the miihjv does not necessarily nlinii/^ 

 follow the,//;/. — Eu. 



Selections. 



WATER. 



Water forms tlirce-fourtlis of the surface of 

 the earth, and even a larger proportion of our 

 own bodies. Hence it is hardly possible to 

 exaggerate the importance of having an 

 ample supply of this element in its purity. 

 The purest water in the world is said to he 

 that of the river Loke, in Sweden, which con- 

 tains only one-twentieth of a grain of impuri- 

 ties in a gallon. It flows over a bed of horn- 

 blende rock, which is only slightly, if at all, 

 dissolved by it. Tlie rain wliich falls near 

 tlie end of a long storm is generally (juite 

 pure ; the atmosphere has been cleared from 

 dust and vapors by the first falling rain and 

 that which comes last has nothing to absorb. 

 Water which is collected from roofs in the 

 city is never pure, being contaminated by 

 various gases, sulphur compounds and other 

 deloterious substances. It should never be 

 drunk unless first carefully filtered. 



The character of spring water depends en- 

 tirely on the character of the soil through 

 which it has passed before it issues as a spring. 

 In localities where the primary rocks abound, 

 the spring water is nearly pure ; in limestone 

 countries it is impregnated with carbonate of 

 lime or magnesia. Tliis, when present, in 

 large tjuautity, causes dyspepsia, goitre and 

 cretinism, affecting not only human beings 

 but domestic animals. Five or six grains of 

 lime or magnesia in a gallon render water 

 unfit for cooking leguminous vegetables ; 

 hence the use of soda to soften it. But the 

 same (piantity of these mineral substances 

 makes the best water for tea and coffee, as 

 the five or six grains of carbonate of lime pre- 

 vent the water from dissolving the astringent 

 matter contained in the tea, yet permit the 

 extraction of all the desirable properties it 

 holds. 



Organic matter of vegetable origin is not 

 especially dangerous, but that of animal ori- 

 gin, even in very minute quantities, is highly 

 dangerous. It may communicate no unpleas- 

 ant smell or taste to the water, but on the 

 contrary may give it an 'inusually fine llavor, 

 thus be^iraying its victims " by a kiss." The 

 first symptoms of poison from the use of such 

 water arc slight nausea and mild diarrluea ; 

 afterward typhoid fever sets in, and the 

 struggle for life grows intense. It is estimated 

 that water may contain one grain to the gal- 

 lon of organic animal matter without being 

 fatally poisonous; even thirty-five grains of 

 mineral and organic vegetable matter in a 

 gallon will not always render it unfit to drink. 

 The Croton water in New York city contains 

 5 -^ grains of impurities to the gallon, the Gea- 

 nessee River water supplied to the city of Ro- 

 chester contains 13 t , the Hudson River water 

 in the city of Albany contains 6h-. The water 

 of the Mississippi contains forty grains of mud 

 per gallon, and is certainly unwholesome 

 water to drink. Peat matters held in solution by 

 water in pounds and swamps are harmless, 



even though they may color the water, but the 

 clearest and most sparkling water from wells 

 in the vicinity of ce.ss-pools or graveyards is 

 to be regarded witli the utmost .suspicion. 



Oxygen is the groat jiurifior. The world is 

 purified every day by lire, for tiic union of 

 oxygen with any substance is combustion. As 

 the rain falls through the air it di.s.solves the 

 oxygen, nitrogen, carbonic acid and annnonia 

 oftheatmospluire, but more oxygen than nitro- 

 gen, .so that the air dissolved in water is mucli 

 richer in oxygen than ordinary atmospheric 

 air. This excess of oxygen sui)plies fishes 

 with the vital element, and also furnishes 

 material for the combustion of impurities in 

 the water, literally burning up. " Sewage 

 which would poison an ordinary well becomes 

 harmless in the running stream, and while the 

 well is alw.ays open to suspicion, the river, 

 tliough it drains populous districts, will never- 

 theless supply wholesome water." The con- 

 ditions of this purification are that the sewage 

 must be mixed with twenty times its volume 

 of running water and flow ten or twelve miles, 

 at which distance from the source of impurity 

 it becomes burned clean of all injurious mat- 

 ter. The water of running brooks that have 

 received sewage is to be avoided unless the 

 volume of water is large enough to permit 

 complete combustion of all organic matters 

 contained in it. The water of ponds, lakes 

 and rivers is generally purer than spring or 

 well water, because they receive their supplies 

 from ocer the soil rather than Ihrom/k it. 



The simplest method of purifymg water is 

 by filteratiou. Charcoal will remove organic 

 matter from absorption. Water casks charred 

 on the inside to the depth of an eighth of an 

 inch are sometimes used. A bushel or two 

 of fresh charcoal tied in a bag and thrown in- 

 to a foul well or cistern will cleanse its con- 

 tents. Permanganate of Potassa is very ef- 

 fective in destroying organic matter in 

 water. A small particle of the crystal- 

 lized salt added to a glas-s of water will supi)ly 

 oxygen enough to burn up its impurities and 

 render it innocuous. Travelers in malarious 

 countries are careful to drink only water that 

 has been boiled, and those who find, in mov- 

 ing aliout from place to place that the water 

 disagrees with them, will be spared much 

 suffering if they will drink it hot instead of 

 cold. One soon becomes accustomed to the 

 taste of hot water without any admixture of 

 anything else, and ac(pures a fondness for it. 



I.ittlc fishes when just hatched from the 

 egg and placed under the lens of a micro- 

 scope seem perfectly transparent. All their 

 tissues are revealed to the eye, the contrac- 

 tions of the heart may be seen and the move- 

 ment of the corpuscels in the arteries flowing 

 to and from tlie heart. Those look as drops 

 of water moving along the surface of water. 



Doubtless to eyes of adiflercut organization 

 than ours we too are transparent, and seem to 

 be, as we are, three-fourths and more water, 

 with a symmetrical aggregation of cells distri- 

 buted through it. Could we look upon our- 

 selves thus we should need no suggestions as 

 to the necessity of lieing sure tliat this, pre- 

 ponderating element should be supplied us in 

 the utmost attainable purity.— .AT. ¥. Tribimc. 



Send in your subscriptions to Tile Fakmek 

 for 1883. 



SUPERIOR CORN CULTURE. 



During llie past few years the price of corn 

 has rapidly advanced. The increase in price 

 has been owing partly to the growing demand 

 for the grain. This increa.sed demand has not 

 been for supply food for man. The amount of 

 corn consumed per individual in the country 

 was probably never .so small as at present. 

 The price of corn-meal ap|)roache8 nearer to 

 that of fine wheaten flour than ever before. 

 The economical argument in favor of eating 

 it, therefore, is not iis strong as it was. Our 

 foreign-born population h;i8 increiwed very 

 rapidly, and mo.st foreigners are unacquainted 

 with the use of corn as food. They do not 

 take kindly to it when they come to tliiH 

 country. Corn-meal was used for brca<l al- 

 mo-st entirely by the nc^groes in the south dur- 

 ing slavery times, l)Ut at present wheat flour 

 has generally taken its place. The Indians iis 

 they become civilized learn to sulistilute 

 wheat for corn as an article of food. The skill 

 of millers has apparently been confined to the 

 grinding of wheat. We have much better 

 flour than we had a few years ago, but by 

 coumion consent the corn-meal is not as good. 

 Tile demand for corn for other purposes, how- 

 ever, has largely increa.sed. The manufacture 

 of glucose has called for a vast amount. This 

 is a new industry, but, like that of the manu- 

 facture of alc<jhoI, it li;is ri;quired a va.st 

 amount of corn. The demand for corn for 

 export increases every year. Large quantities 

 of corn are now used for feeding dairy cows 

 and fattening stock kept in parts of the coun- 

 try where it is diflicult to raise grain. The 

 quality of beef now required by the market 

 makes it necessary to feed steers more corn 

 th;in was fed a few years ago. 



The yield of corn has decreased in many 

 parts of the country where the soil and cli- 

 maie are the best suited to its growth. This 

 IS partly owing to the fact that the Ijest 

 groiuid was selected for producing corn when 

 the farms were first improved, and partly to 

 the circumstance that the soil has been im- 

 poverished by successive croppings. ilany 

 western fiirmers were at first reluctant to be- 

 lieve that successive crops of corn would es- 

 sentially imjioverish the soil. They were fin- 

 ally convinced, however, that such was the 

 case. They resorted to the use of manure on 

 land intended for the productiou of corn with 

 considerable reluctance. Many preferred to 

 rai.se smaller crops than to be at the trouble of 

 hauling out and applying manure. The 

 growth of clover for a fertilizer has not l)een 

 general in the west. When it li.as been rai.sed 

 tor that purpose it has in most ciwes been 

 turned under preparat<n-y to the production of 

 wheat. For several years wheat luus been the 

 fashionable crop in mo.st parts of the country. 

 It has been the fav(>rite crop with farmers, 

 largely for the reason that it could Ix) sown, 

 cut, bound and thrashed entirely by machin- 

 ery. Machines have been largely employed 

 for planting and cultivating corn, but as none 

 have been introduced for harvesting and pre- 

 paring it for market most farmers preferred a 

 crop that could be rai.sed and put into a condi- 

 tion to sell without resorting to the use of 

 liand labor. Possibly the employment of ma- 

 chines for planting and cultivating corn has 

 tended to dccreivse the yield of corn per acre, 

 though it has largely increased the area 



